Extra Credit #1: The Proposal

The movie The Proposal features Sandra Bullock, Margaret, and Ryan Reynolds as Andrew. Margaret is a top editor at a top company in New York who all her co-workers loathe, but she is also only living in the U.S. on a visa, as she is a Canadian. When Margaret finds out that she is going to be deported from violating her visa her world starts to spin out of control as she is faced with leaving the country and losing her job. Her assistant, Andrew, walks in at the right moment and she tells her boss that they are getting married and are going away for the weekend to meet his family in Alaska. Andrew takes this opportunity to bribe her to promote him to editor if he agrees, in which she does. During their trip they have to learn everything about each other so that they can pass their test to see if they are really in love and getting married. The trip starts out rough and they do not get along. As the trip continues they both see that the other is not so bad and they start to fall for each other. She starts to see that Andrew is really a great guy who just wants a break and left everything to make it in New York, and Andrew sees that Margaret actually has feelings and is pretty fun and normal once you get her out of her element. Of course they fall in love and one of my favorite lines from the movie is "Margaret Tate will you marry me so that I can date you?"
This movie is great and hilarious and I would recommend this movie to everyone. This movie also has a twist to it, the role are switched between the man and woman. Usually it is the male character who is in charge and the women who is bossed around and only trying to get noticed, but in this movie it is the other way around. I think that it shows that men can be just as belittled by women as women are by men. I think that it also shows that women are not always the vulnerable, weaker sex. As Margaret shows in the movie, she is very demanding, high powered, and controlling, which are usually qualities of a man. I do have to say that this is only what happens in the first part of the movie, because the roles slowly start to change as she shows her true side. She starts to show her emotions more and that she is very vulnerable and that she needs to find that special guy to fill that void in her life. I think that Hollywood has to end it like that because that is just how women are suppose to be portrayed and men are the ones that come the rescue as in this case. Andrew saves her when she is thrown overboard into water where she cant swim and when she is going to be deported he comes and saves her from leaving.
This movie shows both sides which is rare in most movies. It really relates to the class and is a good representation of each side of the two stereotypes between women and men. It is hilarious and a great laugh for anyone.

Film Review #3 Dream World 3

The2007 documentary, Dream World 3, shows that depiction of women throughout the music and music video world. The documentary mainly focuses on how music videos objectify women to nothing more than parts of their body. It shows how men treat women as their little play things and objects that they can do whatever they want to them.
The documentary shows how the different music video directors use different angles of shooting women so that men have the visual images they desire. The video will show just certain parts of a woman’s body or pan up and down it. This portrays the “male gaze” as we talked about throughout the semester. Because men are such visual learners, this can really hinder their view on women and how they perceive and learn to treat them. Another aspect that this documentary focuses on is fantasy life. This gives off a skewed perception to youth about what life is really like. You will see in the videos girls always around the singer like that is a normal thing. Also with fantasy men are able to see a variety of them played out. It seems like videos today are all about women half naked and in costumes like, cheerleaders or in bondage. The less dressed and erotic the girl looks the better chances she has at being in a video.
The videos also show that it is ok for women to be violated or abused. They often show liquor being poured on women, women being tied up, or yelling at women when they have done something wrong. This just shows the youth (which is who most of these videos are geared towards) that for guys it is ok for them to be violent towards women when they don’t get their way and for girls that you need to do whatever the guy wants because that is how you keep him.
Before watching this video I never really thought about the message it was sending out to the youth. Girls are going to grow up thinking that the only thing a man wants is her body and the best way to do that is to show it off as much as possible and let him do whatever because that is the only way to keep him. For the guys it shows him that women are just objects for men to play with and that they are not really human beings. It shows that women have no feelings and if they don’t do what you want them to then you can just violate them or be violent towards them or just get rid of them in general because they will have more women. This gives women a sense of a lessened value of self worth. I believe that this film was a good example to really wrap up a lot of the class and what we have been learning throughout the semester about the male gaze, how women are objectified, how sex sells, and the reason why so many women have a low self confidence about themselves.

Film Review #2 Lovely and Amazing

The movie Lovely and Amazing was unlike any movie I have seen. It was very unusual in the way the writers wrote the movie and how the audience was supposed to understand the movie. Like I said it was very unusual so I will do the best I can in summarizing the plot.
The movie focuses on a family of women. There is the mother, Jane, the older daughter, Michelle, the younger daughter, Elizabeth and Jane’s adopted African American daughter. Jane is very self conscious about getting older and the effects it is having on her body. She is a very wealthy woman who knows what she wants to change about her body and does so. She decides to have liposuction and while prepping for surgery she encounters her surgeon who she has a crush on, and he reaffirms her contemplating thoughts on having the surgery.
Michelle is married and has a daughter of her own. She does not work but she is artistic and tries to make little chairs and sell them to stores, but most of the time is unable to. When meeting somebody she used to go to high school with, the audience figures out that Michelle used to be popular in high school and was considered so beautiful. At home he and her husband have a strained relationship because he feels like she should work and he doesn’t want to sleep with her. She thinks that it is because she is getting older and she is not attractive anymore. Whenever she is not trying to sell her projects she sends the day watching cartoons with her daughter and eating cereal. This seems like Michelle’s escape from the world. Eventually Michelle does decide to start looking for a job and winds up at a photo shop where a 17 year-old boy starts to hit on her. She gets the job and starts a little affair with the boy. Michelle is then arrested for statutory rape but is freed after a night in jail.
Elizabeth is an aspiring actress who has great potential but has the lowest self esteem about herself than any of the other girls. She doesn’t think that she is good enough and her body is not up to par for the movie image. She is always asking her boyfriend if he thinks that she is sexy and beautiful and he never completely responds to her in a “yes”. This just adds to her negative body image against herself. He eventually breaks up with her because she is basically too needy and is always asking and caring about what the movie business says. She also auditions for a part with a famous actor but does not get it because she is not considered sexy enough. The actor then calls her and basically wants to take her out. They have sex together and afterwards she stands in front of him and asks him to point out everything good and bad about her body. He is completely honest and it seem like she is a little hurt by it but tries to play it off.
Annie is an 8 year-old African American adopted by Jane. Like every little girl that age she is a little overweight and trying to get out of her baby fat. At the beginning of the movie she likes to eat a lot and when she gets in trouble she likes to justify that it was “the good kind” of snacks. As the movie goes on she starts to feel unconfident about her weight and comments on how she is fat. She doesn’t really notice her skin color compared to her sisters except that it is different. She does exclaim that her mother was a “crack head”, but that is all you here about her background. As the movie continues, you do see the influence that her family does have on her and she then wants to be skinny and straighten her hair so that she looks like her family.
This movie came to an abrupt finish and I felt like I was left hanging. It was almost like the story was not quiet developed and the audience was only shown a little amount of the characters. This movie was similar to Mona Lisa Smile in that it did touch on different women and different issues with each of them. This movie shows that women really care about what men think and that society plays a big role in how women perceive themselves. This is portrayed by the actress who gets denied because she is not sexy, the mother who gets liposuction to be skinnier, the older daughter who feels like she is unattractive and the youngest girl who feels like she needs to be skinny and white to be normal.

Film Review #1 Mona Lisa Smile

Mona Lisa Smile was a movie that made for a class as Body Image vs. Reality. It touches on every perspective of different women and issues that they face in the time they are in. Although these issues are set in the early 19th century, they are still issues that present in today’s culture.
Mona Lisa Smile is about a young teacher, Ms. Watson from California, who comes to Wellesley a prestigious women’s college in the east. Ms. Watson is an art history teacher and very extrinsic and passionate about her work. She soon finds out that at Wellesley, the only reason women go to college is to by time to find a husband and get married and be the perfect wife. Wellesley teaches the women how to become the best wife, the best host and the best at being a lady. On the first day of class all of the young women have already read the whole book and learned all the art for the section. This shows Ms. Watson that these girls are as close to perfect as they come. As the class continues throughout the year Ms. Watson befriends and influences the class, but four girls especially.
The four girls that are central to the story are Betty, Joan, Giselle, and Connie. Betty is from a high class upbringing and is in the middle of planning her wedding, which she believes is the most important thing along with being the best wife. She is very set in her ways and dislikes Ms. Watson for her non-traditional ways. Betty gets married but soon realizes that marriage is not all it’s supposed to be and she finds herself trapped in what Betty Friedan would call the Feminine Mystique. She then realizes that her husband is cheating on her but her parents tell her that she just needs to be a good wife and keep her mouth shut and he will come back to her. Much to Ms. Watson’s surprise Betty leaves her husband and applies to Yale Law School. Joan is a very bright student who has all the potential in the world to be something great. She comes from the same upbringing and has the same ideals of what women are supposed to be. While taking the class Ms. Watson convinces her to apply at Yale Law School, where not very many women are accepted. Joan is accepted, but when her boyfriends asks her to elope with him she agrees and says that she understands what is in front of her but she wants to be married. Giselle is a young woman who tries to find out who she truly is throughout the movie. The only way she thinks this is possible is to date/sleep around with older men and sometimes married men. She feels this is the only thing that will complete her and make her feel better about herself and feel wanted and accepted by men. Giselle does finally realize that she is better than having to sleep around. Connie is a sweet girl but has self esteem issues because she is a little over weight compared to the other girls and she did not have the upbringing as the rest of them did. Out of all the girls Connie knows who she is and won’t change. She finds a man that is of high class and he loves her.
This movie related too many of the readings for this course. The one that I think it matched almost to a T was the Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. This reading was all about how women were suppose to act in the 40’s and 50’s. How they were supposed to be good wives and mothers and have dinner ready for the husband when he got home and how she was supposed to keep her mouth shut. I think that the direction and production of the film was great and it really showed what life was like in that time for women. The cast was great for the roles that they played. The movie portrayed the women as only good for one thing, being a wife. This is the struggle that women still have to face today, in that men still expect women to be the best wife possible and women are still expected to be also. Although this is theory is not that prominent anymore, it is still in the back of the mind of men and women.